What a wonderful birthday week it's been, filled with flowers and cards, messages and phone calls - and a beautiful cake from friend Winnie. It saved my week, because the weather has been terrible - snow, rain, sleet, ice, and some kind of pellets of snow/ice.
There was a lovely bunch of rapini in the fridge for my birthday dinner, but rather than the usual rapini soup, I decided on a fairly traditional Italian recipe, using fat sausages to give the dish a little more oomphf. A confetti of onions and green and red peppers made for a very pretty platter.
To make:
2 cups penne pasta ( or farfalle or spagetti)
one bunch rapini, washed, trimmed, cut into 2-3 inch pieces, stems and all
a package of sausages ( I used small, but next time will use the large ones)
1 large onion
1-2 cups diced red and green sweet peppers
salt and pepper to taste
3 T. olive oil
1 t. thyme
sueeze of fresh lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, peeled, smushed
3 T. olive oil
Cut the sausages into 1 or 2 inch pieces.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
Toss the cut rapini into the boiling water and blanch for 3 minutes.
Scoop out the rapini ( you'll use the water for the pasta) and place in a bowl of cold water.
Using the same water, cook the pasta for around 8 minutes, then drain.
Place the sausages in a large skillet with a few tablespoons of water and cook until slightly browned. Remove the sausages to a plate.
Drain out any grease, then add the olive oil to the skillet.
Toss in the onion, garlic, and peppers and saute for 2 minutes.
Add the drained rapini and saute another 2 minutes.
Add the sausage and thyme and saute 5 minutes.
Add salt and pepper as desired.
Toss the pasta and veggies and sausage together and mix well.
Place in large pasta bowl or serving platter, top with a drizzle of olive oil and the fresh lemon juice, and serve. You can serve with Pecorino-Romano, or not.
Enjoy!
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2 comments:
Where to start??? I'm so happy to read that you had a wonderful birthday celebration - looking forward to reading about Saturday tea.
The tulip picture is sooo beautiful - who doesn't need a good dose of spring hopeful-ness? I'm really tired of shoveling.
The rapini and sausage looks delicious - I'm going to give that one a try.
And one last thing...would that green plate under the party cupcake happen to be Depression glass?
Stay warm!
Hey, Barb! I'm guessing that is Depression glass, and I have a few more pieces, that while a little more elegant, are the same wonderful green. I just love the color!
Today was crazy - floods,highway patrol trucks, snow, sleet - and power outages. I just got power back so I'm answering quickly, before it goes out again! Hope Spring comes soon to you ( and us) - enough is enough, don't you think? Stay warm and happy -
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